Golf is enjoyed by a wide variety of players—players of different genders, and players of dramatically different ages and skill levels. These factors, together with increased golf programming on television (e.g., golf tournaments, golf news, golf history, and/or other golf programming) and the rise of well-known golf superstars, at least in part, have increased golfs popularity in recent years, both in the United States and across the world.
Golfers at all skill levels seek to improve their performance, lower their golf scores, and reach that next performance “level.” Manufacturers of all types of golf equipment have responded to these demands, and recent years have seen dramatic changes and improvements in golf equipment. For example, a wide range of different golf ball models now are available, with some balls designed to fly farther and straighter, provide higher or flatter trajectory, provide more spin, control, and feel (particularly around the greens), etc.
Being the sole instrument that sets a golf ball in motion during play, the golf club also has been the subject of much technological research and advancement in recent years. For example, the market has seen improvements in golf club heads, shafts, and grips in recent years. Additionally, other technological advancements have been made in an effort to better match the various elements of the golf club and characteristics of a golf ball to a particular user's swing features or characteristics (e.g., club fitting technology, ball launch angle measurement technology, etc.).
Typically a set of golf clubs includes 14 clubs. A set generally includes a putter, 3-4 wood-type clubs, and 9-10 iron-type clubs. Each of the clubs generally has different characteristics such as length, weight, stiffness, etc. These different characteristics require a golfer to learn a different swing for each golf club in the set of golf clubs. Generally, as one moves from a driver to a sand wedge, each club becomes progressively shorter and heavier which means a golfer's swing can vary significantly as he (or she) changes clubs.
In some cases a set of irons is produced to have a similar swing weight for each club. Swing weight is a measurement of how heavy a club feels to a player swinging the club. Measurement of swing weight is determined by the moment generated by the club about a fulcrum point usually 12 or 14 inches from the base (or grip end) of the golf club. The swing weight generally increases as the weight of the club head increases or the club length increases.
Learning to play golf can be very daunting for a beginning golfer. Learning to develop a repeatable golf swing in order can hit a ball with similar results is itself very difficult, and learning to swing a club that is slightly different from the next one within the set can add to this difficulty. The difficulty in learning golf can be a reason many potential players do not fully engage in the sport of golf.
The present disclosure addresses the problems discussed above and other problems, and provides advantages and aspects not provided by prior ball striking devices. A full discussion of the features and advantages of the present invention is deferred to the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.